The present invention is directed to a toothbrush, either manual or powered, which includes a handle and a head. Cleaning elements are mounted to the head such as tufts of bristles. When toothpaste is applied to the cleaning elements the user inserts the head into the mouth and brushes the teeth in a known manner.
The head of a conventional toothbrush usually has a flat or slightly altered surface to which cleaning elements are attached. Usually the cleaning elements are strands of plastic material(s) formed into tufts, bundles or other groupings. The strands are attached to the head either before or after forming the toothbrush.
The toothbrush of the present invention facilitates more motion of cleaning elements in the toothbrush head thereby promoting healthy stimulation of gums and cleaner teeth. It is well known that the ideal brushing technique from a dental hygiene perspective is an up and down stroke along the vertical surface of teeth which massages the gums while cleaning the teeth. However, due to a number of factors, including ergonomic difficulties, haste, lack of education or the like, few consumers use the recommended brushing technique. Rather, the typical consumer brushes across their teeth in a horizontal motion rather than a vertical movement. Various approaches have been taken by others to translate horizontal brush movement into partial vertical movement of the bristles or cleaning elements.
Translation of horizontal to vertical movement of cleaning elements is accomplished in U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,869 through use of a helix groove in a movable shaft within a toothbrush handle. The groove receives a pin which rides in the groove. This mechanism causes the toothbrush head to partially rotate or oscillate as the handle moves left-to-right or vice versa in the user's mouth. That rotation or oscillation causes the cleaning elements to move in a vertical plane perpendicular to movement of the toothbrush handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,775 discloses an arcuate shaped base for a toothbrush. head aligned with the longitudinal axis of the head. A movable arcuate block containing cleaning elements is flexibly mounted on the toothbrush head. The block is free to slide on the head in a manner whereby the cleaning elements may travel in a vertical direction generally transverse to the typical side-to-side motion of the toothbrush.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,786 discloses pivotal mounting of cleaning elements that allows those elements to move up and down in concert with a side-to-side stroke along the teeth.
A general disclosure of flexible mounting for cleaning elements on a toothbrush head is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,149. In this patent the cleaning elements are mounted on a flexible membrane supported between a horseshoe shaped handle extension.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,817 discloses cleaning elements mounted on a flexible membrane that splay outward when the toothbrush is pressed against the user's teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,176 B1 issued Jan. 15, 2002 to Smith, et al. discloses round sections of cleaning bristles mounted on individual pads that rotate within a toothbrush body. This converts backward and forward motion of the toothbrush into circular motion of the cleaning elements (column 1, lines 11-13). The bristles associated with each pad are of varying height to accommodate irregularities, gaps, pockets and contours in natural tooth formation (column 1, lines 40-45). The rotating cleaning elements can be supplemented with fixed cleaning elements adjacent thereto (FIG. 11; column 5, lines 43-49).